Flower Romance - SL-Birds & Flowers Collection

Faux Vintage Porcelaine in Glass

now available in BBC

Song of The Flower

I am a kind word uttered and repeated

By the voice of Nature;

I am a star fallen from the

Blue tent upon the green carpet.


I am the daughter of the elements

With whom Winter conceived;

To whom Spring gave birth; I was

Reared in the lap of Summer and I

Slept in the bed of Autumn.

At dawn I unite with the breeze
To announce the coming of light;
At eventide I join the birds
In bidding the light farewell.


plains are decorated with
My beautiful colors, and the air
Is scented with my fragrance.


As I embrace Slumber the eyes of
Night watch over me, and as I
Awaken I stare at the sun, which is
The only eye of the day.


I drink dew for wine, and hearken to
The voices of the birds, and dance
To the rhythmic swaying of the grass.


I am the lover's gift; I am the wedding wreath;
I am the memory of a moment of happiness;
I am the last gift of the living to the dead;
I am a part of joy and a part of sorrow.


But I look up high to see only the light,
And never look down to see my shadow.
This is wisdom which man must learn.

by 

Khalil Gibran

Mad Crafter at Work at Craft Gossip :)

Remember my Felt Label tutorial?

I followed an advice from a good friend of mine, mba Dini Capungmungil, to submit it to Linda Lanese at the Craft Gossip and here it is! [mba Dini had her own tutorial featured here earlier]

Mad Crafter at Work has a FELT LABEL – Just for the Fun of it tutorial that may get your creative juices flowing.  This is an adorable project we can all do. 

Thank you, mba Dini and Linda^^

Want to share your own original tutorial at Craft Gossip?  Just submit by clicking this 'Send Us Gossip' folder. You would need to fill in a simple form (i.e.: email, link to your blog, simple description on your tuto. etc/ :)) and click to send ^^ 

Happy Sharing (and crafting!)

DIY - Glass Pendants Tutorial

Every Friday we share crafting tutorials in the Indonesian Crafters group on Facebook, and today I'm going to share mine.

You have probably seen my store updates on the latest Sister Love Collection glass pendants, and this is how I made those darlings:

awesome, this had just arrived yesterday!

my favorite supplier always give a top notch service. i totally {heart} this

i forgot to include the cotton bud, but it's readily available in you household [i hope!]

if you're using a purchased collage sheet, make sure it's okay for commercial use, always check the seller's TOU!  NEVER use something that's not yours to sell.

sorry for the blurry pic, I was half asleep when I took this :P

leave it until the glue is completely cured ... for smaller tiles it's okay to leave them sunny side up:)

[i always glue at night and let them out to rest]

i used a different glass tile just to illustrate

i'm sure you could trim better than this, lol!


note: the sealant would make your image looks a bit darker, but if you're going for that vintage / old feel then just go for it, if you don't want a darker shade, just use modpodge

yay, you're almost there!

just add another coat of modpodge lightly onto the back and place it firmly on the frame setting/bezel, and have another coffee/tea/jog around the yard

when you return, check if the glue has dried off and no stain appears on the image [when it did, just wash everything in the water, peel the sheet off and do it all over again :P]

... and VOILA!  there you have it! ^^

if you had purchased one or a couple of my glass pendants, and had accidentally took them for a swim/bathe, just peel everything OFF and place your favorite photo/picture as replacement. 
it will go on and on like this and you will have so many memories that you could share with others through a simple glass pendant.


oh I almost forgot, as the nature of glass is prone to chipping/cracking, these pendants are not suitable for children. you could replace the glass with a resin sticker instead ^^

happy crafting, y'all!

Sister Love Collection - Newest Member

Yep, it had finally arrived ... 

the elusive 18mm adjustable antique bronze rings {heart}!

These are the perfect match for SL - Set A, B, C, D

Currently available at a very affordable price at my store

(but maybe not for long, they usually disappear very fast ;))

s.o.  c.o.m.e.  a.n.d.  g.e.t.  i.t.

Someone please pinch me! (part II) :P

Mad Crafter

The Madcrafter is being featured at 

Tobucil Handmade's creative blog!

{thank you Mas Nunuw ^_^}

Read all about it HERE.

End of 2011: A Rollercoaster of Emotions - A New Passion was Born

I knowww, I know ... guilty as charged ...  it's been quite awhile since my last post - so many end of year happenings happened last 2011 - some good and some bad sad. Very sad.

Maybe some of you knew that last November my dear sister Reny passed away - the hurt from losing someone so dear to my heart was so great, it stopped me from writing for almost 3 months ...

but it didn't stop me from crafting.

It was from this life experience that my 'Sister Love' collection came to be (a dear friend later told me that it was a beautiful way of remembering my Reny).  Instead of using my usual media of felt or cotton fabric, I used glass and digital images ...

Here are some of them:

My inspiration came from here, a tutorial from F Yeah Lolita blog, later on I learned more techniques from the tutorial videos found on YouTube (yay for YouTube!).

One thing though, as I prefer using transparent glass dome instead of epoxy resin, and glass by nature, is a fragile material prone to chipping or cracking, so my pretties here are NOT suitable for children :P

Up to this time, I used ready made collage sheets that I purchased online, but being the madcrafter, I wanted to create MY own digital images, madcrafter style! hehehe ... so here they are - some from my own design and some using altered cliparts from other artists, hopefully they're not too bad for a newbie ^_^

It's actually easy, you could do it too ... [so here's to you Reny, love you always Sis!]

Initials - 'M'

Matryoshka Doll - Green

Happy Crafting ^_^

And the Winner is ....

Crafter's Nest!!

Many congratulations! 

(I had a little help in drawing the lucky winner from Nafisa, lol!)

Thank you for all the nice comments and more importantly the suggestions on how to make improvements for MCAW, therefore MCAW has decided to give each and everyone of the participant in this giveaway a special mystery gift! Woohoo!!!

To collect your prize(s), kindly message MCAW at Blessedly Blissful CraftStore's FB account re. your complete address & phone number.

See you in our next post! :)

DIY - Vintage Inspired Art

I don't know when did I start liking vintage things - but I do know that my collection is growing more and more each time.  For sure, my mom's antique gallery-like house has the biggest influence on my artistic expressions/collections, if I might say so ...

Oops, wrong house! Heh heh .. :P

It so happen that I didn't marry a billionaire (which is okay by me) - even if I couldn't buy expensive artworks - the solution is actually very simple. 

I make my own art.

Yeah, you  could do that, too - for yourself and for others, even. :)

For me, there's nothing more artfully satisfying whenever I succeeded in turning an empty 'canvas' (or even a packet of white cement) into something beautiful, something that I could appreciate and cherish ...

{aaawwww ... starting to get mushy here! Some one please get me a swimming pool!!!}

Let's start with some of my personal favorites!

My first choice would be this little garden statue - she was born from a mold that I purchased directly from England.  Isn't she a real beauty?  I just love every details on her.

An english garden mini statue - white cement

And here are some  of the collages/artwork that I had done in the past few months ...

in remembrance of my cat, Tigerlily
(been missing since last month) :'(

Two commissioned scrapbook-influenced profile logos that I did for an FB friend

This one was the first vintage logo I made for BBC

Some of my friends had asked me where did I get those honest to goodness, gorgeous vintage graphics ... did I buy them online, googled them, etc. But the answer is a big 

'nope'. 

You could get all the vintage graphics you want for FREE!

Don't believe me? 

Check out the Graphics Fairy. 

It's a very special, special blog managed by Karen - God bless her soul! :)

You could 'process' these images with your favorite program, even a Microsoft Powerpoint would do.  Well, if you're good at Photoshop, that's even better.

You could even make some money selling your art, check out Etsy.com or even Ebay.

So, start creating people!  Your art is waiting for ya ..

My next post will be another DIY - Turning Trash into Treasure ep. 2, stay tuned!

DIY - Designing your own name card ep. 3 (final)

They're HERE!!! Yay,  BBC's namecards have finally arrived!

Thank you Sis Shela Nie!

Ooo, I love happy endings, don't you? :)

Here's me wishing you a great weekend! Cheers!

Links to my previous posts:

DIY - Designing your own name card

DIY - Designing your own name card ep. 2

The Angry Birds Experience *_*

THE GOOD NEWS

Just last week I got an order for 60 pcs of 'Angry Birds' keyrings as birthday goodie bag filler from my favorite customer - yay! Officially the first big order for BBC! ^_^   

{well, maybe not much for a wedding souvenir supplier, but for a single fighter like me, this was quite a BIG job plus I hadn't done this before, heh heh}

And sure enough ... I was pushed almost to my limit since I had to divide my time between doing the motherly and wifey chores, caring for my 4 children (including a 2 year old little miss want to know it all plus a nosy brat of a cat), and meeting the deadline for the birds.

Deadline ... Ooo, what a scary word .. and this is my closest brush with Mr. Deadline :)

THE DOs AND THE DON'Ts

I know that this will not be pretty, but I had to admit that I did procrastinate in the beginning {ouch!}. 

I shouldn't have done it - cuz if I hadn't, I would have more time to sleep, less crankiness in the morning, well, you know ... the whole package that comes with them. Worse, there were several times that I panicked - like when the pickup guy was supposed to arrive in 3 hours and I haven't even started on the last batch (the bomb bird). Oh dear!

But then I remembered seeing this saying at Shabby Blogs so I repeated it several times in my head:

After taking a few deep breaths, I finally calmed myself and carried on ...

and finished all 50 birds and 10 pigs! Tadaaaa! What a RELIEF!!

 

My moral of the story: 

Rule no. 1:  NEVER ... with all capitals ... PROCRASTINATE! 'Cuz if you combine it with DEADLINE and your other RESPONSIBILITIES, they don't mix well together ... :P

Rule no. 2:  DON'T PANIC, you may make mistakes when you do. I did attached two keychains on the birds' butts, not the heads, lol!!  So, remember to always 'Keep calm and carry on ...'

Rule no. 3: WORK WITH A SYSTEM, i.e: when working on big orders like these, cut all the basic patterns first.  This will make it easier (and faster) to assemble later. It may be a little boring at the beginning but you'll appreciate it later.

Well, I think that's a wrap, hope you all enjoy reading this post :)

Happy crafting! ^_^

DIY - Designing your own name card ep. 2

Someone STOP me from dancing! Yeah, baby!!

Just got great news that the previous olshop had agreed to print out my cards and they will be ready latest by Thursday! Woohooooooo!  Can't tell you how happy I am!

Thank you Sis 'Shela Nie' .. u're the BEST! Muah muah muahhhh ...! Two thumbs UP! :)

{Wondering maybe you're one of my blog readers and have read the previous blog entry?

Oops, he he he ...}

Photo Editing for Your Business

Sometimes, using wordy or written advertisement is not enough to attract you customers into buying - but using visual advertisement  - such as below example - could gain you the competitive advantage :)

Original picture:

Processed advert:

Additional information:

Another example:

Processed advert:

Additional info:

Look more enticing, don't they? ^_^

These are some of the designs ordered by a friend. It's still unfinished as I need to put her contact details somewhere in the pics, he he he ... I've known her for years and I know by heart that her talent is in kitchen craft - her cookies and bistik lidah saus krim keju are TO-DIE-FOR!

As we speak, she'll be selling online soon.  Anyone interested to buy her wonderful-scrumptious-to-goodness cookies or my design to perk up your merchandise, just drop me a line / inbox me ... :)